In the Wind
by pink-sundays
Summary: Sanji dies in battle but he can't seem to leave his crew just yet.


…_ook! _

_Wa… up!_

…_e's– get you!_

_SAN–_

Sanji never forgot how that song went, for every dish plated and for every cup he washed, he remembers well humming to the tune. It was a simple song, one that pirates of their generation knew by heart. One that reminded him of both fear and relief –fear for almost losing a nakama and relief for that nakama –everyone, in fact– finally in safe hands and happily scoffing down his brilliant creations in their usual pirate rowdiness. _Binks' Sake_, Sanji wishes that it would've kept him safe at least.

Sanji's body goes numb with excruciating pain as the blade of the _monster_ pierces right through his heart. He feels it materialising into a hand and when part of his heart is ripped out, he finally starts humming the song in high hopes that it might keep him from dying. From leaving behind his crew –people he loved. _Maybe All Blue isn't in this world_, he silently jokes to himself as his lovely blue eyes caught the sight of an angered Roronoa Zoro clenching down on his sword a little too hard. Sanji feels the last bit of his strength slowly drain from his body while Nami and Chopper runs to his side –the lovely woman's eyes filled with tears. Enchanting flowers don't shed tears.

Sanji feels a hand grip his right and it feels a little bit rubbery. _Captain_, he mentally says because his mouth is just as stubborn as his personality. He mentally hums the last line of the song and at long last, the blue completely drains from his eyes.

xxx

xxx

Nami is on the deck, making sure that there are no changes to the weather. The skies of the _New World_ are as deceiving as she and she knew better than to let the free winds drift by, storms undetected. For now, she decides that it is safe enough for a short nap under the sun by the map that she was currently working on. Nami secures her fringe with a headband, takes a last sip of her lemonade and dozes off with her cat-eye sunglasses shielding her precious eyes from the sun.

The navigator awakes an hour later to find her glass completely refilled, along with her favourite shortbread cookies at the side. She gets up with a yawn and proceeds to find Robin who had probably did her the favour only to find that the archaeologist had been reading in the library and admiring the fishes in the aquarium all afternoon.

xxx

xxx

The built-in alarm jolts the cyborg awake and he drags himself on deck to the kitchen at an ungodly hour. It was his and Robin's turn to prepare breakfast that morning and as expected, the raven-haired woman was already up and showered. She greets him with a gorgeous smile along with a simple _'Good morning'_ while Franky scans the kitchen for the groceries that they need to buy. They were lucky that the island's markets were already alive and bustling with business in the early mornings.

"Right, jot down bread, a lot of bacon, fruits, flour, onions, spices, potatoes, tomatoes, sugar, salt and juice," the man says once the green light from his eyes went off.

"Franky, do you not have a built-in memory in your system?" Robin comments, holding back a giggle once she has listed down the groceries needed.

"Yeah, I should probably have that installed. Let's go, we need to be back before the sun's up."

They leave the Thousand Sunny together with Robin in charge of the money and Franky pulling the cart that he and Ussop had designed specially for hauling back groceries. Halfway through shopping, Robin makes a mental note to get coffee power and cola.

At seven, the two arrive back on the familiar floorboards. Eight o'clock and a redhead pokes into the kitchen to see if they need any help but Robin shoos her away politely. It is half-past eight when Robin realises what she has forgotten to buy.

"Oh dear, I forgot the coffee powder and cola…" she reprimands herself with a frown on her delicate features, unaware that the cyborg was still in the kitchen.

"You were going to get me cola?" he says with his tiny sunglasses raised and Robin nods. They make plans to stop by the town later in the evening while their excited Captain sides down the ladder from the deck.

After a pleasant breakfast, Robin's disembodied arms leads everyone out of the kitchen for her to do the dishes. She enjoys the sound of the water gushing from the tap and plates being dried and stacked away while she loses herself in the book that she was reading by the counter. She wakes up later to find a cup of freshly brewed coffee to her side and a blanket over her slender shoulders. Franky hops into the kitchen and opens the fridge for juice, but to his surprise, finds a few bottles of his precious cola as well.

They both look at each other, bewildered.

xxx

xxx

Chopper hits the back of Zoro's head with a hoof and tells the swordsman for the _thousandth_ time that he isn't allowed to train with his one-ton weights until his wounds are completely healed. Zoro leaves the infirmary, apologetic that he has caused Chopper more worry than necessary and promises that he'll take it easy. When he asks about _sake_, the tiny doctor kicks him hard in the shin and slams the door. Chopper goes back to grinding up some of his medicine for the next hour.

Brook pokes his skeletal self into the infirmary late at night to tell the blue-nosed reindeer that it is way past his bedtime. Chopper begs him to let him stay up for five more minutes and the musician complies with a hat tipped. After the lights are shut and the door to his infirmary closes for the night, Chopper stares up into the night sky. Just as he wishes for something sweet, his nose picks up a familiar scent and he tumbles into the kitchen but there is no one there. Chopper takes a seat at the dining table and munches the candied apples silently in the dark, the stress of his work completely forgotten. There were few candied apples that tasted as good as these.

xxx

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Dinnertime was the worst time on the ship (if one didn't count the number of times the Straw Hats were attacked that is). Usopp never stood a chance with his plate during dinner –it was a battlefield everyday. Nami yells from his right and Brook wails a song about '_Food, food, oh glorious food!_'while both Franky and Chopper go on about how _super_ the song was. Usopp on the other hand, just wanted to get some damn food on his plate. Robin has arms sprouted on the table to where their glutton of a Captain was sitting to buy Usopp some time and he catches a glimpse of the last piece of steak in the middle of the dinner table.

With as much speed as his arms could produce, he lashes out a fork towards the perfectly grilled meat just as Luffy breaks free from Robin's arms. Luffy's arm stretches from one end of the table and just as Ussop's hopes are almost shattered, their Captain was flung back off from his seat.

Luffy rubs his aching rubbery face and sets his hat back in place, "Oi Sanji! What was that… for…"

Luffy takes a seat and dinner is resumed in a confusing, yet pleasant silence. Usopp even gets the last piece of the steak that evening.

xxx

xxx

"LUFFY WATCH WHERE YOU STRETCH!" Zoro hollers at the top of his voice while he swings _Shuusui_ down into a marine's shoulder. Luffy lets out an apologetic laugh while he clanks the heads of the two marine soldiers in front of him. The swordsman leaps from where the main mast is onto the lawn deck, cutting down enemies in his path and slides in just in time to block three cutlasses that were aimed at Chopper. Steel on steel –but clearly stronger– he grins menacingly and pushes the three marines backwards so hard that they fall off the ship.

He hears a cry from the helm and in an instant, rushes to help Nami. The swordsman manoeuvres his way through the endless sea of marines while the sound of blasted cannons rang in his ears and spots Nami desperately trying to fend off her attackers. _Shuusui_ and _Sandai Kitetsu_ moved swiftly with their master's guidance, cutting through flesh and air and Zoro hears them ring with excitement.

"NAMI!" he yells in panic, but is relieved when he manages to grab the navigator by her wrist before she falls over. Nami cracks open her eyes but they widen with horror when she sees an enemy with a gun to Zoro's head –hand at the trigger.

That very marine is suddenly flung sideways off the helm with such brute force that his teeth littered the floorboards. Zoro swore he caught the faint whiff of a cigarette.

xxx

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Brook is on watch tonight and he has his violin to keep him company. He sings the famous _Binks' Sake_ which he loves so dearly and prances around excitedly making odd puns about not having any eyes. But he's not alone and is thankful for the company during this fine but cold night (not that he was aware of how cold it exactly was). After all, the dead could see the dead.

xxx

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Sanji never forgot how that song went and he loved it so. He materialises his feet and brought himself down to Sunny's lawn, humming his favourite song. He didn't know how long he would be around for, but he bets on his life that the others wouldn't mind a spooky tune or two in the middle of the night.

-End


End file.
